There was an appeal that had been filed in the Supreme Court by the attorneys of a skinhead whod written the word towelhead in white paint on the driveway of his employer, a Pakistani convenience store owner whod fired him for being drunk on the job; some research about why the words under God had been added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 during the McCarthy era; and a stack of mail equally balanced between desperate souls who wanted me to fight on their behalf and right-wing conservatives who berated the ACLU for making it criminal to be a white churchgoing Christian.